Seniors Fear Lot Rental Increases

Saturday

Oct 6, 2012 at 9:16 PM

Residents in five Lakeland mobile home communities have new hope that their annual fees might not rise as much as they feared.

By GARY WHITETHE LEDGER

BARTOW | Residents in five Lakeland mobile home communities have new hope that their annual fees might not rise as much as they feared.A Chicago-based real estate investment trust that bought the parks last year has petitioned the Polk County Value Adjustment Board to reconsider new assessments that resulted in dramatically higher property taxes. Under Florida law, mobile home park owners may pass those taxes along to tenants.Equity LifeStyle Properties Inc. acquired the five senior communities as part of a massive acquisition campaign. The company spent $1.43 billion to buy 76 mobile home parks nationally, said Mike Hartnett, real estate director for the Polk County Property Appraiser's Office. And 55 of those transactions involved parks in Central Florida.The five local properties purchased by Equity LifeStyle are Beacon Hill Colony, Beacon Terrace, Kings and Queens, Lakeland Harbor and Lakeland Junction.Two mobile home parks in Polk County sold in 2010, and seven sold last year, Polk County Property Appraiser Marsha Faux said. Those sales triggered new value assessments of mobile home parks throughout the county, Faux said, resulting in spikes in the taxable value of many senior communities.The Property Appraiser's Office sent Notices of Proposed Property Taxes to owners earlier this year. That prompted meetings of homeowners associations at some of the parks as word spread that residents' fees could go way up.Property owners are entitled to appeal the property appraiser's determinations. After residents of the five communities publicly expressed hopes the new owners would do that, Equity LifeStyle filed petitions on all five mobile home parks with the Polk County Value Adjustment Board, which holds quasi-judicial hearings to consider the appeals.The Clerk of the Circuit Court oversees the Value Adjustment Board, which employs special magistrates — lawyers with property law experience or certified appraisers — to hear taxpayer petitions. The board consists of two county commissioners, one school board member and two citizen members.A representative from the petitioner and an employee from the Property Appraiser's Office attend the hearings. The magistrate's decision is binding as long as the board finds it complies with state law, said Stacie Butterfield, director of finance and accounting for the Clerk of the Court and the clerk-elect.A hearing on the Equity LifeStyle petitions is scheduled for 2 p.m. Nov. 2. Petitioners have the right to request one delay of the hearing date, and it's common to do so, said Mary Perez, chief accountant for the Polk County Clerk of Courts.Equity LifeStyle requested a phone hearing, Perez said. The hearing is open to the public, and those in attendance will be able to hear the conference call.Dick Gebo, president of the Beacon Hill Colony Homeowners Association, said Equity LifeStyle mailed letters to residents saying their annual fees could be adjusted based on the outcome of the hearing.Gebo said the annual fee would rise from $176 to $443 per unit if the new assessment is upheld. He said Equity LifeStyle gave residents the option of paying in monthly installments of $36.92."I'm pleased they did appeal," Gebo said. "No doubt about that."Gebo said he plans to attend the Value Adjustment Board hearing involving Beacon Hill Colony.The high number of mobile home park sales prompted the Property Appraiser's Office to do new value assessments of more than 80 communities in Polk County, Faux said."We have to follow what the market does," Faux said. "In 2010, we had two mobile home park sales. Two sales doesn't make a market. In 2011, we had seven sales for a total of nine. That makes a market. We had to reassess those on Jan. 1, 2012, based on those nine sales."The biggest transaction last year involved Schalamar Creek, an 871-lot community with a golf course just east of Lakeland on U.S. 92. A subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Companies of Milwaukee paid $57.7 million for the property.The taxable value of Schalamar Creek rose from $24.9 million to $46.9 million, an increase of 88.4 percent.Lakeland Harbor sold for $21.3 million, Beacon Terrace for $11.3 million and Beacon Hill Colony for $7.8 million.There has been one major sale this year, Faux said. Solstice Communities, a division of American Land Lease, bought Plantation Landings in Haines City for $19 million.Faux said the owners of 49 parks have filed petitions over the new value assessments. She said she has visited many mobile home parks to explain the tax assessment process to residents."I really feel for these people because I realize they're on fixed incomes and they don't really have any rights because when they sign the lease (state law) allows those mobile home park owners to pass through all those taxes and fees to tenants," Faux said. "It is unfortunate. I sympathize with them, but we have a job to do with the statutes and we have to follow where the sales are taking us."Equity firms have turned to mobile home parks as safe investments in an uncertain economic period, Hartnett said. Equity LifeStyle's stock has risen 16.2 percent in the past year.

[ Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Join his discussion of books at www.facebook.com/ledgerlit. ]

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